Determination
by Wintry Arrogance
Summary: What happens when Rufus loses the Turks?


_ "They're dead, get out of there!"_

The voice over his PHS was insistent, terrified even. That Reeve almost never lost his carefully controlled tone didn't even register right then.

Point of fact, he wasn't even really listening. The phone was stowed in his breast pocket with the call still going. _They can't be dead._ his mind insisted dully as he ran through the collapsing building. Fire and smoke was everywhere much like the tower had been when WEAPON attacked, but he didn't care.

Someone grabbed him—no, several someones did. They started dragging him toward the exit. He heard screaming, only realizing a moment later it was _him_ doing the screaming. Ranting that they weren't dead; let go of him. That he had to find them. They were the only family he had. Only perhaps Reeve had any inkling of that fact. Most believed him incapable of such emotions as love.

One of his assailants got him in a chokehold. He struggled against it, unaware of how much damage he'd already caused his would-be rescuers. A moment later he felt the sharp prick of a needle gun, and realized they had actually _tranquilized_ him only as he slipped into unconsciousness.

-.-.-.-

Rufus woke to find himself bandaged. He appeared to be in a real bedroom, not a hospital. The burns he'd suffered ached, his lungs felt thoroughly abused. Within moments of waking none of that mattered. The blonde sat up abruptly, eyes wide and staring at the wall. What had happened? He didn't know who had caused the destruction, but he knew with a certainty that the Turks were _not_ dead.

Moving perhaps faster than he should, he dressed himself and exited the room. No one was around. It didn't take long to exit the building. He oriented himself as he went, knowing exactly where he was. With a single-minded determination he left for the ruins of the building.

How long he had been there sifting through the debris didn't matter. His eyes were focused on a little pile of nearly melted items on the ground in front of where he knelt.

Two pairs of sunglasses, easily recognizable. An EM Rod. A pairs of guns, a PHS. The remnants of what had once been ShinRa I.D. badges. The sounds of despair he made didn't register. He felt as if his mind had snapped. Perhaps it had. All he could do was stare at the pile of destroyed belongings. As night fell, he was vaguely aware of someone talking to him. A hand on his shoulder, someone trying to get him to move. He shoved it away.

-.-.-.-

Reeve sighed. He had brought Cait with him as a guard, a bribe had convinced Yuffie to come as well. He couldn't ask any of the others to come… and he didn't trust his troops with this particular scenario. There were too many that would take advantage of the fact ShinRa's President seemed to now be a broken man. As it was, Yuffie occasionally glanced toward the kneeling man with bug eyes. If the situation wasn't so depressing it would have been comical.

"What happened to make him like that?" the ninja girl asked finally.

"He lost his family."

"Eh? That happened years ago," she said, rolling her eyes.

"No… not his father, Yuffie. The Turks were the only ones he ever really considered family," Reeve said softly. She was still young, still didn't understand things like this. Hopefully there would never really be a reason for her to.

"… oh."

Her quiet answer surprised him. That she looked serious now as she gazed at Rufus surprised him even more. Perhaps she had grown up more than he had realized.

"I'd die if I lost dad… we have our spats but I know I wouldn't take it well," continued the girl. Reeve smiled at her sadly. "I'm glad you understand. Please keep this to yourself; there are too many who would use it against him."

Yuffie huffed at him. "Hey! I'm the best secret keeper around!" a pause, then: "… so they're really gone?"

"All evidence points toward yes."

"… damn. I'm actually going to miss them."

"You and I both…"

-.-.-.-

How long had it been?

Rufus swirled the amber liquid in his glass idly, just staring at it. He drank too much. He had had his bouts of drinking too much before they had died. Now he just didn't care anymore when it came to his own health. As long as his company was fine, why did it matter? Drinking didn't affect his capability to run the company. He was in the middle of downing the whole glass when his PHS started vibrating. Anyone who had his personal number would have to be important. With an irritated sound, he pulled it out and flipped it open. "Yes?"

At first all he heard was heavy breathing, then he heard someone trying to talk. It seemed as if there were multiple sets of breathing. His heart almost froze in his chest before it started working overtime; almost hurting it was so fast. "Hello?"

Nothing, then a series of taps that he recognized as Morris code. It was a set of coordinates. Quickly, he grabbed a pen and paper to write them down. "Got it," he managed to say despite his near inability to breathe.

They hung up. He stared at his phone's screen. The number was listed as being private… his eyes flicked to the paper. Modeoheim?

Deliverance watched him as he moved about his room. He still remembered when the Turks had given her to him, sometime after he had recovered the attack on the tower. She was rare: a white guard hound. Her intelligence surpassed even Dark Nation's, a fact which continually surprised him. He still had no idea where on Gaia they had found her.

When he had chosen her name there had been no question about it. Deliverance had simply popped into his mind, and he knew it was the right name. The more he found out about projects he'd known nothing about, the more determined he was to atone for as much as he could. As a child he hadn't thought beyond his own suffering; his hatred for his father had had nothing to do with anyone else's. He had been so naïve…

ShinRa… what a mess. He paused from dressing himself to close his eyes and massage his temples, then resumed. Rufus still had his long vests and black sleeveless turtlenecks. The fact they could store more weapons and hide any chest wounds were only one reason he had chosen them. The long vest made it a little easier to conceal his movements.

His eyes fell upon bottles of medication. More like a make-shift fix. Rufus snorted… his father's attempts to make him as good as Sephiroth, in secret of course, had done nothing but mess him up. Still, what was done would finally be coming in handy. The blonde ignored the bottles. They had never helped with his body's inability to stay warm. He was relying on the few layers of silken long johns he was wearing underneath his clothing.

A soft command to Deliverance had her trotting over. She nuzzled his hand affectionately as he gave the catlike creature a few pets, then followed him out of the room. He slid his PHS out of his pocket, dialing Reeve without even looking at the device.

"Sir? Is something wrong?"

Rufus smiled. No, nothing was wrong… but he knew since it was late it was appropriate to assume that. "I am going on a business trip. You will know when I return."

"Wh—" the man was cut off as he hung up on Reeve. A few moments later his PHS was off.

This time, he would rescue them.

The route he had chosen was one that didn't fly directly over his destination. Instead, he wove his way there in a slightly convoluted manner.

When he landed he let Deliverance out of her attached cage, then wrestled the vehicle he'd brought with out onto the snow. It was good for traveling in snow, especially with more than two people, but was a pain in the ass otherwise. He took it perhaps halfway to his destination, then ditched it to move in by foot. With the snow storm that had started he and his pet were practically invisible.

Rufus skirted the compound with narrowed eyes. It was clearly new, the rest of Modeoheim was abandoned. It wasn't even in the ghost town itself. What powered it was a mystery to him for the time being. He didn't particularly care. The blonde pulled the scarf down that covered his mouth and spoke one quiet word to Deliverance: "Dispatch."

The target of that command was a single guard. Goggles protected his eyes from the snow, but Rufus' were naturally better in that they showed heat sources as well. In just a few minutes Deliverance had slunk over to the man and taken him out. Anyone who came across the man would simply assume a wild animal got him, which was exactly what he wanted.

They repeated the process at several locations, offering several methods by which he could get in. At each he left trace amounts of evidence that someone entered the building.

-.-.-.-

He had been hearing gunshots for a few minutes now. Reno was grinning. The boss was a smart man, he'd sent in a rescue squad! When the cell doors creaked open, all at once with a distinct noise, he scrambled on out.

What he saw wasn't what he expected, though. A white suit, stained with blood that hopefully wasn't his own. Rufus looked like he was possessed by some badass spirit, the look in his eyes wasn't entirely sane but there was enough intelligence in them that he knew the man was still in control. Cold blue eyes flicked over him and the others who had been held.

"Turks, come with me," meaning he didn't care what the other prisoners did. The blonde withdrew a rather wicked looking knife and sliced the collars off each of his Turks, the devices that had prevented them from talking, then handed them each a handgun.

"Orders, boss?" Reno asked. Rufus just smiled at him, that devilish smile that at the moment scared the hell out of him. "Cover me."

The order was barely out before the president was moving. His speed was incredible. Reno found himself gaping as they followed along, hardly able to even provide the cover asked for because he was just too damn fast. "Holy shit," he murmured. His eyes met Tseng's briefly; the man looked like hell so he bet he did too. The look in those dark eyes was grim.

In almost no time they were out of the compound. Though Rufus had decimated whatever was sent after them, they were still being cautious. They had deviated on their way out to raid a couple of lockers for warmer clothes for the emaciated group at least. How long they'd been out in the cold he had no idea, all he knew was that he had seen a beefed up snow mobile and had to refrain from shrieking hoarsely with glee.

Sometime after they'd all managed to get in, even the guard hound, he heard Tseng speak: "Rufus—"

The blonde glanced at him. Before more could be said, they were under fire. This time the Turks took out their assailants while Rufus took evasive action. Whatever had been going to be said had been lost.

They'd ditched the car and thrown the keys off into one of the snowdrifts. Taking off in the snow was always weird, but Rufus was actually a pretty good pilot. (He should be, Reno'd taught him!) Deliverance was safely stowed in her crate while all of them were buckled to their seats in the back compartment. Tseng's eyes almost never left Rufus' back. Once they were a safe distance out Tseng removed his seatbelt and moved toward the cockpit.

He froze just a few steps from it.

"Brace yourselves!" Tseng yelled, barely audible against the engine and wind noise. Time seemed to slow down. Reno saw Rufus' form suddenly slump, felt the chopper start to go out of control, and saw Tseng he the side of the aircraft and go down.

"Shit!" He yelled. They'd worked together enough that in seconds he, Rude, and Elena were out of their seats and heading for the cockpit without a word. Elena, being small, wedged herself in between Rufus' body and the controls so she could begin bringing them out of the uncontrolled dive while he and Rude wrestled the president out of the chair. _Fuck, he's heavy_. Thought the redhead, though that could be because his own body was in shit condition right then.

They were _uncomfortably_ close to the ocean surface before Elena managed to win the fight for control. He let out a breath he hadn't known he'd been holding, then he helped Rude move Rufus into the back. Once Rufus was settled, Rude quickly moved to help Tseng. The man was dazed and bleeding, but seemed to otherwise be okay. Rufus on the other hand was pale as his damn white suits.

Reno stripped off his outer layers, then his shirt and started ripping it up for bandages. The coat was formed into a pillow for his boss. It was with shock that he realized a lot of the blood on the man was in fact Rufus', not his enemies. He did the best he could to bandage the man up, then got another shock: That black shirt of his had been hiding a stomach wound. He bit his lip. "Fuckin' ijit… these things're fatal!"

Rude shook his shoulder while he put pressure on it in order to calm the bleeding down. "Tseng says he needs his medicines. I'll tell Elena to radio as soon as we get in range."

The redhead nodded, then concentrated on his task.

-.-.-.-

The blonde looked like absolute hell. Paler than he normally was, and he'd definitely dropped weight. There was an emaciated look to him, just like them. Despite the fact he'd been unconscious since he passed out on the helicopter he had dark circles under his eyes.

Reno forced himself to look away, instead focusing expectant eyes on Tseng.

They were all wearing those fashionable medical gowns. The only reason they were in here was because the doctors couldn't keep them from leaving to check up on their boss. Tseng's eyes never left Rufus as he spoke: "You all know by now that Rufus went through a varied version of SOLDIER," it was a statement, not a question, yet they all nodded anyway.

"The president desired his son to be able to protect himself. He also wanted a similar result to Sephiroth. The end result was that Rufus has no limits. His body will literally consume itself—consider it something like going berserk."

Elena spoke first: "So… the medicine is to stop that?"

"Partly, yes."

Even Reno was at a loss for words. He'd bet the others were thinking the same thing he was: Rufus had risked that for them?

-.-.-.-

_Beep._

_Beep. Beep._

The noise was incessant. His brows knit together as he attempted to block out the noise to no avail.

Finally he opened his eyes, feeling stiff as a board and weak. A few blinks later the ceiling came into focus. _Perhaps I should just buy this room outright. I spend enough time here._ Thought the blonde cynically. A soft snore interrupted the steady beeping next. Cautiously, he shifted his head so he could see the source of it. Somehow he was not surprised to see Reno sprawled out on a chair, mouth hanging open. The position did not look comfortable in the least. Still, he felt his lips traitorously tugging upwards in a smile.

The door to his room opened and in walked a nurse, Amy if he remembered her name correctly. His heart rate changing probably alerted her. Her smile upon seeing his eyes open was sunny. She kept her voice low as she checked over his vitals via the machine he was hooked up to.

"They've been taking shifts, just like before. You know… that kind of loyalty says something about a person."

He made a noncommittal noise. She laughed. "Come now, you can't be nearly as bad as your reputation."

This time he just wrinkled his nose at her. She liked to tease him, and knew she could get away with it since she was his nurse. She had probably seen him at his most vulnerable anyway. Amy tsk'd at him before giving him a wicked grin and shaking his 'babysitter' awake. He saw her mouth the word 'revenge,' for his silence he knew, then with a wink she was gone.

Reno just grinned at him. "You look like shit, boss."

Rufus rolled his eyes. "So do you."

Naturally, then the rest of the Turks burst in to bother him. He smiled, both inwardly and outwardly, at seeing them all alive and on their way to recovering.


End file.
